Make Russia’s Wagner Group a Pariah in Africa
If the West wants to help the continent and regain influence, its nations need to head Yevgeny Prigozhin’s hired guns off at the pass.
Chaos abhors a vacuum.
Photographer: Florent Vergnes/AFP via Getty Images
As more of his hired guns fall in the meat grinder of Bakhmut, Yevgeny Prigozhin, condottiere of Russia’s mercenary Wagner Group, is reportedly planning to cut his losses in Ukraine. This would be welcome news in Kyiv and Western capitals, where the humiliation of Prigozhin, Vladimir Putin’s chef-turned-attack-dog, has stimulated considerable schadenfreude.
But it bodes ill for Africa, his happier — and more lucrative — hunting ground. The expansion of Prigozhin’s private army across the continent was interrupted by Putin’s war, which forced Wagner to transfer fighters to Ukraine. But it also obliged the group to step up recruitment of mercenaries, many from Russian criminal classes. Even allowing for his losses in Bakhmut, Prighozin likely now has a larger, more battle-hardened force at his disposal for deployment in Africa.